Two plays into the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day, I turned to my friend sitting next to me in the Superdome and said, "Game over."
It was.
It was evident then, and later as illustrated by the 41-10 final score, that the Rainbow Warriors of Hawaii were overmatched against Georgia's Bulldogs.
Some other observations from our three-day excursion to New Orleans to ring in the new year:
'The Crescent City' is still suffering.
I was last in New Orleans the spring before Katrina hit in August of 2005. Over two years later, I was still rather shocked by what we saw coming into the city on Interstate 10.
On both sides of the interstate were barren homes, apartment complexes, shopping centers, even a ghost-town hospital. A friend who lives in the area later told me that the eastern side of New Orleans was hardest hit by Katrina, and has been the slowest to recover.
Meanwhile, the hurricane's effect on the downtown area and French Quarter is hardly noticeable, unless you know where to look. Some natives pointed out a few vacant buildings in an otherwise bustling cityscape.
'The Big Easy' puts a hurting on your wallet.
In order to make up for lost revenue caused by Katrina, costs are high - or, at least, they were for gullible tourists. I had to pay $1 a minute just to check my e-mail at the hotel business center (usually, that's a free service). I'm embarrassed to say what I would spend on a meal there.
But whenever a check came, and the subsequent gasp, we would remind ourselves of the reason for our mission: Charity.
In addition to following the Dawgs to the Sugar Bowl, we were in New Orleans on a benevolent crusade to help this wonderfully unique American city resuscitate itself - by pouring every dollar we had into it.
In turn, the city repaid our altruistic donations by rewarding us with a good time for all.
LSU fans are nuts.
Georgia is playing Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl. Most Georgia fans are wearing black to the game; Hawaii fans are decked in white or green. Interspersed in the seats of the Superdome are pockets of LSU fans. They stand out because every one of them is wearing that hideous purple and yellow from head to toe.
I can understand them putting on their team regalia for one of their games. That makes sense. But what would possess an LSU fan to go the Sugar Bowl - where Georgia is playing Hawaii - and don another team's colors and paraphernalia? And then they were taunting Georgia or Hawaii fans - whoever was closest. This wasn't happening just near me, but throughout the Superdome.
I've been to Georgia bowl games elsewhere, in Florida for instance, and I can't recall small groups of Gator fans ensconced in blue and orange, heckling Georgia or Purdue fans. That's an invitation to get your butt kicked.
The lunacy of LSU loyalists was later confirmed when I returned to Georgia and listened to a report on the radio.
As you may have heard, pop star Britney Spears was hospitalized recently in the latest chapter of her bizarre, Dana Plato-esque downward spiral. The report stated that her father, who is from Louisiana, came to visit her. With his teen daughter pregnant, and his older daughter in the drooling academy, he was visibly upset coming out of the hospital.
When asked for a comment on Britney's status, he replied, "Yeah, I got a comment - Go Tigers!"
Or is that "Geaux Tigers!"?
Don't stop the insanity!
Len Robbins is editor and publisher of The Clinch County News.
